Rosie Jones’ comedy offering will join UKTV Play and the Dave YouTube Channel.
UKTV has commissioned Rosie Jones’s Disability Comedy Extravaganza a one-off 45 minute special for UKTV Play and Dave YouTube channel. The live comedy showcase will be filmed on April 27th at a central London location and will launch on UKTV Play and the Dave YouTube channel in early summer.
Rosie Jones:
“I am so excited to be hosting another UKTV Disability Comedy Extravaganza, particularly now this one rightfully has my name in the title! As we proved with the last event, it’s so important that TV doesn’t overlook disabled comedians as we are a ridiculously funny bunch. It’s so exciting that this time viewers will get to join in the fun and watch too!”
Ensuring that the evening of entertainment is enjoyed by comedy fans as well as industry insiders, the Rosie Jones’s Disability Comedy Extravaganza will launch on streaming service UKTV Play as well as on the Dave YouTube channel, supporting Dave’s ongoing mission to bring audiences the freshest fix of funny on all platforms.
The showcase will feature Josh Pugh, Bethany Black, Jake Lambert, Don Biswas, Sarah Mills, Sam Serrano, Lara Ricote, Dan Tiernan, William Thompson and Will Robbins. Headliner, Pugh, is set to appear on Hypothetical (series four) this spring, as well as join the cast of the upcoming UKTV original scripted comedy, Sneakerhead, which will be on Dave later this year.
Richard Watsham, UKTV’s director of commissioning:
“The showcase will see host Rosie Jones welcome up-and-coming comedy talent to the stage for an in-person audience of producers and commissioners from across the industry, helping to deliver on UKTV’s commitment to provide a platform for diverse and underrepresented talent, alongside other key initiatives such as UKTV’s diverse writers schemes and our UKTV All Voices initiative.”
The new commission follows the resounding success of the first UKTV Disabled Comedian’s Showcase which took place in October 2021 for an industry audience. Talent from the first showcase included Chris McCausland, George Zach, Spring Day, Pete Selwood and Eshaan Akbar.
Last month it was announced that Rosie will star in three new commissions for Channel 4. Trip Hazard is back for a supersized second series while a one-off documentary sees Rosie explore society’s attitudes towards disabled people and Rosie is also hosting Dine Hard, an all-new comedy, chat and cooking five-part digital series.
Rosie Jones’s Disability Comedy Extravaganza will be released later this year by UKTV.
Iain Coyle, head of comedy entertainment, UKTV:
“Diversity is rightly a priority for UKTV and Dave and I’m so proud to be involved with this initiative. There’s a huge amount of disabled talent out there, criminally under used. We want to be at the forefront of introducing the industry, and viewers, to that talent and have a bloody good laugh while doing so.”
